It has been a while since I published one of my recipes. Perhaps it is the realisation that I have neglected finishing my recipe book (Fabulous Food for the Famished Student). Perhaps because I have become addicted to peeled Italian plum tomato soup and cannot find an angle to make it seem appetising. Regardless of my reasoning, here for you is the recipe for my Easter Sunday Roast Lamb.
Of course you may consume it any other Sunday you like. The title is not meant to be blasphemous so much as celebratory. Easter is a time of joy and unity. It is also one of the most highly celebrated events on any Catholic’s calendar. A time where one is reminded of sacrifice and the nature of goodness. One is kind to their neighbour on Easter Sunday. It is almost a shame that Easter cannot occur every Sunday.
I designed this dish to emulate the Garden of Eden. Setting the lamb on a (hidden)bed of carrots. I surrounded it by a sea of cannellini beans. Amid them were trees of brocolli with sliced onions from the lamb gravy I made on them to denote fruit. The forbidden fruit lays at the foot one of these trees, partially quartered. I should have thought to include two stalks of thyme as Adam and Eve. Nobody’s perfect.
Ingredients:
-1.5kg lamb shoulder, with the bone taken out; put back in and sewn up with a butcher’s knot. Your local butcher will know what to do.
– 400g cannellini beans, preferably fresh.
– A large bunch of broccoli
– 3 British carrots, peeled and diced.
– one red onion
– Fresh garlic cloves, halved
– Fresh rosemary
For stock:
– one white onion chopped finely (to make lamb stock)
– Some lamb bones with a little meat and fat still attached to them (to make the stock)
– white cooking wine
– 500ml water
– salt and pepper to taste
For overnight glaze:
– Two tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
– one teaspoon dijon mustard
– two garlic cloves, crushed
– juice of half a lemon
– Fresh chopped parsley and oregano
– Salt & Pepper to taste
Method:
Firstly you’ll need to soak your fresh cannellini beans overnight. Then boil them for ten minutes. Drain and set aside.
Next, combine the ingredients for the glaze and mix them together in a bowl. Pour over the lamb shoulder in a dish, cover and leave overnight. Preferably outside of the fridge if you have room.
Next make the lamb stock, fry the onions in a little oil until they are soft. Then add the water; bones and white wine. If you’re impatient, you can combine a tablespoon of cornflour with water and add it to the mix. Bring this to the boil. Cover and leave to simmer for 3 hours. Or two if you’re willing to sacrifice flavour to save time.
Take out the lamb when you’re ready for the grand finale. Stab little holes in it and put one half of garlic and a sprig of rosemary in each crevice.
Place the carrots diagonally in a corner of your baking dish. Lay the marinated, perforated lamb on top of them and cover the rest of the space in the beans. Place your trees of broccoli around as you prefer. Quarter your red onion but don’t slice all the way through. Leave 1mm space for it to unfold beautifully. Pour over your lamb stock.
Cover with tin foil and cook for 1.5 hours at 190 degrees centigrade.
My grandmother made a spontaneous decision to come to Warwick with me after I drove to Yorkshire to celebrate my sister’s 20th. I felt duty bound to take her to my favourite tearooms in Warwick town: Oken Tearooms.
Built 500 years ago by Thomas Oken as his then home, this tea house stands firm. Anyone who has read this blog knows I have an unreasonable weakness for aged oak beams. Oken have them as far as the eye can see.
I wish I could show you the divine cakes found therein but my grandmother and I ate them too quickly. I can only say of the carrot cake that it was prepared to perfection. Soft but not to the point of crumbling. Cream filling rich but not past the bounds of taste. In all, a true British treat.
Quaint would be an understatement. Oken Tearooms embody and exude Britishness.
The Oken cream teas are the stuff of legend. As is the crockery team’s choice of fine china. What extraordinarily adept craftsmanship. What delicate shading. That’s to say nothing of the details on the ceramic-embedded table (pictured below).
But something in this tearoom which set them apart from others is that they sell alcohol. Do not adjust your spectacles, they do indeed sell booze. I have enjoyed many a cider here. Not all in one visit, mind. Alcohol does not feature in my roster of addictions. All their alcohol, to the best of my knowledge, is locally sourced. I laud most highly businesses which support the local economy.
In summation, Oken Tearooms provides nourishment as exquisite as the service one receives from the charming waitresses. I recommend it for those of you longing for a touch of forgotten British glamour. The place has an enigmatic charm which never fails to impress me.
It’s the day after Mothering Sunday 2018. I have driven four hours to see my mother. Having rested the night, my stomach clamoured for breakfast. I call my sister, who lives 10 minutes away. “Go to Earnest and take me with you”. I’m paraphrasing of course.
So off we went. Grace (my car); Mother; my sister and I arrived in what can only be described as a developing neighbourhood. Tall grey apartment complexes which had replaced a myriad of paint factories surrounded us as we were seated in Earnest.
The bar itself was an oasis in the desert. Beautifully decorated. Sparse yet ornate in a way. There are red supporting pillars abounding. There is a generous selection of alcohol and a wide variety of art on the wall. Encased in an oblong glass panel running alongside one wall is a complete set of collectable Star Wars figurines.
I order my breakfast: a Chorizo and Halloumi Hash Bowl (featured image). Mother takes Eggs Ernesto with Smoked Salmon as opposed to halloumi (pictured below). My sister, in her millennial wisdom, decided to have something called “avo toast”. Likely for a catchy hash tag on one of the innumerable social platforms which people disseminate their every move on today. Like this blog, for example.
My portion was enormous and reflective of the price. Value for money if ever I saw it. And let me tell you, the combination of chorizo and halloumi is nothing less than inspired. I make the same observation as I did at En Diagonal in Barcelona: there is such a thing as too many potatoes. They’re extremely filling and lead to what we call “wastage” when you have to throw away half the food. However I will say that I have rarely seen so pretty a poached egg. Cooked just right.
My mother and sister too enjoyed their meals. I can’t give an in depth analysis of either because a) I deplore of millennial trends like “avo toast” where more value is ascribed to how succinct and Instagram-friendly the title of the dish is, rather than focusing on quality of food or appropriate portion sizes. And, b) I’m extremely apprehensive of eating fish in this country. However I will say they photographed very well.
On finishing my delicious breakfast, I moseyed around the back of the bar. There I found some delightful artwork on the wall from local art company Dove Illustrations. Reminiscent of early 2000AD comics, this really impressed me. I will have to invest in one before long. And so too should you.
The back room was covered by wonderful illustrations such as the one pictured to the left.
In all, this was a delightful surprising experience. Proving the mantra of not judging books by their cover. While this may be in a questionable area of Newcastle for those of us brought up in conservative (small C) households, it is most certainly worth a visit.
Just don’t order the porridge. Nobody should have to pay $5.50 for oats and warm milk.
Deny it as we may, the great works of Stock, Aitken and Waterman have been a part of my generation’s lives since before we were born. Producing such megastars as Mel & Kim; Kylie Minogue; Jason Donovan and this month’s glorious AOTM group: Dead or Alive.
This was once more a month of agonising and overwhelming choice musically. I considered such albums as Funkadelic – One Nation Under a Groove; A Flock of Seagulls’ debut album and Scritti Politti’s Absolute. Nothing compares to the all encompassing brilliance of Youthquake. Interestingly, the word “youthquake” made the word of 2017 by the Oxford Dictionary.
I had a bit of a tragic history with this record. I ordered it from Amazon hoping I’d be able to listen to it in a few days. The post comes and a fold in the protective cardboard is immediately noticeable. Fearing the worst, I open the package to find the record had indeed been separated into two pieces.
Crestfallen, I took it upon myself to go from a few days’ delivery to “instant delivery” as Ian at Vinyl Destination economically put it. If you don’t recall the last three words from the Queen’s 2017 Christmas speech, you’re disloyal.
Finally the vinyl is in my possession. They way it was intended to be heard. And what a sound.
You’ll all recognise the first song “You Spin me Right Round”, but what you might not know is that Pete Waterman knew it would be a No1 hit as soon as he heard it. And it stayed atop the charts for 5 weeks! Stock; Aitken and Waterman’s first of 13 UK number 1 singles in 3 years. But as usual, to really understand an artist one must listen to the whole album. This one is a powerhouse. Each track seems driven by some unseen force to divine perfection.
My Heart Goes Bang is perhaps my favourite. Closely followed by It’s Been a Long Time. The seamless combination of Pete Burns’ angelic voice and more instruments than I ever thought I would hear at once make for an auditory experience quite beyond anything I have heard before.
This album encapsulates for me the essence of that time one was a child and uncovered something beautiful which he had not considered could exist before. It is an exciting discovery and has cast me into a mine of late 1980’s gold hitherto unnoticed by your humble Suggestor.
Listen for yourselves the mad and frankly beautiful amalgamation of sound in Youthquake. It truly sent me to another dimension.
The Knights of the Oblong Table have teamed up with the President and Vice President of Warwick Christian Union: Nathan and Doug; as well as Bhaskar (Big B/The Beast from the East) with one question in mind.
Can the denizens of Heaven have knowledge of the suffering in Hell and still be worthy of their celestial tenure?
Cedric Suggests has provided for you: two non-denominational Christians; a Catholic; a Satanist; an Agnostic and a Hindu! Together we discuss the preliminary question, then branch out into more inherent flaws in the nature of Heaven, ending with our own perceptions of what Heaven is physically like.
This will be a bumpy ride. We hope you enjoy it.
The featured image is Bernini’s Ecstasy of St Teresa (1647-52), which can be found in the church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria in Rome.
One’s Erasmus year rarely includes a lot of studying. There comes a time where one must focus. Sometimes (all the time), the stale air in the library and the three floors of internal suffering and panic don’t make for helpful revision. So I sought out a place with a calm and jovial atmosphere, away from all the dread of Roma Tre library.
It just so happens, not 100 metres from the university, there is a little cafe called Le Storie.
I found it and was amazed. Stefania Stefanini runs the place. Her inimitable charm and grace are a staple of Le Storie. Over the year(s) she has become a dear friend. I went to see her in my brief trip to Rome recently. Le Storie remains a breath of fresh air in the unkempt Quartiere San Paolo.
I spent countless hours of my erasmus here reading; writing; and socialising. Le Storie is friendly and warm. Stefania also stocks a litany of progressive literature as well as all the course books you could ever need. The coffee there is of great quality, unlike the sludge they serve here in England. I must thank my friend Edorado for gifting me a vintage Bialetti.
In all, this is the place to go for a peaceful solution to your mounting workload. Fresh food in ample portions, relaxed atmosphere and excellent coffee. This is the place to escape your university woes for a few hours.
Lest we forget, it is also one of the more beautifully put together cafes in the San Paolo area. A testament to Stefania’s excellent taste.
When you go, make sure to tell Stefania: “Cedric says ti voglio bene!”
